Even Then I knew

I was 11 year s old in 1989. I remember thinking at the time how amazing it was that I was seeing this unbelievable thing happen. The Berlin Wall was coming down. There were Germans now, not "East" and "West Germans" but just Germans and they were on top of the wall rejoicing. I knew that I would remember 1989 forever. It was also the year that this happened
I was watching the clips on YouTube of people escaping their communist countries and they are running, running to freedom. Here is 5 minute documentary.


Here is a video with groovy 80's music:


And a Taylor Swift song which is very appropriate


And raw footage of the wall falling.



Choose your tearjerker. And remember how those people were running to freedom and make sure our children never have to do the same. We want them to have freedom already.

Saturday Night Cinema

Oh yes.
North By Northwest
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Date: 1959

Espionage, mistaken identity, unidentified (possibly communist) foreign bad guys. Cary Grant. Sleeper Trains. Steamy.

You simply have to see this film. It is iconic. Literally.

Hitchcock referred to this film as "the American 39 Steps."

This was my Grandma's favorite film. She also loved Cary Grant because "He is so handsome!"

January Reading List

The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
We read this for our book group to see what all the fuss was about. It was surprising to learn that the Argument made in part 1 is very sensible. I agreed with it. Part 2 was the solution to part 1 and that is where I started thinking COO KOO! Dissolving the family, community of women, abolition of personal property??? These guys were nuts. Part 3, man these guys had a beef with Germany.
This is a bent book.
3 out of 7 thimbles. 3 because they made convincing arguments even though the solutions were ludicrous.

The Secret Life of Bees - Gina Prince-Bythewood
I got this book for free and again, I thought I would see what all the fuss was about.
Very interesting and compelling story about coming of age, mothers and daughters, race relations in the South. It made me appreciate my daughter and my mother.
I learned much about bees. This book made me crave honey.
I liked it, but for a Mormon, this book is alarmingly sacrilegious and laden with idolatry. Perfect example of what can happen when people are left to religion on their own without a prophet and proper authority.
4 out of 7 thimbles.

The Keeper of the Bees- by Gene Stratton -Porter
In this book you will learn much about bees, but that is only the beginning of it. I loved this book.
You didn't know what was going to happen next. In the beginning each new chapter changed the story completely. The characters are lovable. READ THIS BOOK. It is so lovely, healing, whole and good.
This book would be a perfect 7 but it was a tad predictable and a little, no a lot, preachy.
6 out of 7 thimbles.

Currently Reading:
The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson Burnett

I am reading this to Nutmeg at night.

Up Next :
Washington Square by Henry James

December Reading List

The Other Wise Man - by Henry Van Dyke
I will probably make this small book an annual read

The Christmas Sweater

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic
- Still reading ALMOST finished.

I don't really have much to say, I liked them, they were good. I was very busy knitting and writing a talk. I am sad that I did not have a chance to read my favorite Christmas book Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I may have read something else, but honestly I can't remember I was very busy knitting, like I said.

Up Next: The Communist Manifesto - just to see what all the hubbub is about.

Mixed Bag

The good news is I don't need a filling.
The better news is that there isn't a crack in the existing filling.
The great news is that I don't need a root canal.
The really great news is that the diagnosis is gum line sensitivity and recommended treatment is re-calcification.
The bad news is I will still have pain and sensitivity for a while and I didn't get to lecture anyone about HMO's, mercury amalgam fillings or the AMA/ADA.

Communitsts, Germans and Stars. Oh, My!

I have never been a huge fan of Paul Newman mostly because I am not that familiar with his work (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and only slightly familiar with his salad dressings. I have been delving deeper lately watching The Long Hot Summer, Exodus and tonight Torn Curtain is on the docket. I thought it was ironic that a Paul Newman Movie arrived in the mail the day he died.

"You like me! You Really Like me!"

I added one of those following gadgets on my blog. If you like to read my blog click on the "Follow this Blog." It is on the right underneath the label "People who like to spy on Samurai Mom." It is easy and if you really are spying on me blogger allows you to follow anonymously so I won't know who you are. I suspect you may be Russian because Russians are the bad guys (ergo spies) again. I am sad because I like Russia and would like to visit someday, but on the bright side James Bond and cold war movies are applicable again. For a while there the only bad guys were Arab Terrorists and that felt uncomfortable because it was pretty racist. But with Russians you know that you aren't being racist just anti-communist (I know, I know Russia is a technically democracy now but work with me people, Think of the MOVIES!) I would love to have German bad guys again, but that seems unlikely unless it is a movie about homeschooling or ideological freedoms.
Currently the only follower of my blog is my mom. I adore my mom and I am thrilled that she is following my blog but seriously imagine how it feels that the only person that admits to reading your blog is your mom. She has to like my blog, she's my mom. I sit there looking at my one follower (my mom) and feel like a total social misfit. So please let me feel like the sunburned Sally Field and let me say "You like me! You really like me!"